He was transport minister in the Labour/Lib Dem coalition government and had been widely tipped to win the leadership race after Nicol Stephen stepped down earlier this year to spend more time with his family.

Mr Scott won 1,450 votes on a membership turnout of 61 per cent and the outcome was declared on Tuesday afternoon.

He is the latest in a line of Shetland’s parliamentary representatives to have become leader of the Liberal Democrats. Former Orkney and Shetland MP Jim Wallace led the party in Scotland for 13 years, while Jo Grimond – who held the seat for 33 years – was the party’s UK leader between 1956 and 1967.